The Jim Bakker Show

Jordanian attackers had suicide vests kill nine

Jordanian policemen leave after ending security operations in the vicinity of Karak Castle, where armed gunmen carried out an attack yesterday, in the city of Karak, Jordan

AMMAN (Reuters) – Four attackers who killed nine people in Jordan on Sunday had suicide vests and other weapons, Interior Minister Salamah Hamad said.

“This was a big terrorist operation but we are still in the stage of follow-up of information that relates to it,” Hamad told a news conference on Monday.

He gave no details on the identity or nationality of the attackers, saying investigations were continuing and disclosing details at this stage could hamper national security.

Jordanian security forces said late on Sunday they had killed four “terrorist outlaws” after flushing them out of a Crusader castle in the southern city of Karak. They had holed up there after killing a Canadian woman, three other civilians and five police officers.

The secrecy around the culprits, and whether they belonged to any militant group, has raised speculation from politicians and diplomats they could have been tribal outlaws with a grievance against the state rather than Islamic State fighters, who control parts of neighboring Syria and Iraq.

The security forces were able to release around 10 tourists. At least 30 people were hospitalized, some with serious injuries.

(Reporting by Suleiman al-Khalidi; Writing by Angus McDowall; Editing by Mark Trevelyan)

In Jordan hospital, mental trauma scars children blown apart by bombs

Rachid Jassam, 15, who nearly had his leg amputated after he was injured by an airstrike outside his house in Falluja, Iraq, sits on a hospital bed inside a Medecins Sans Frontieres hospital in Amman, Jordan

By Lin Taylor

AMMAN (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – As soon as the bombs exploded outside his house in the Iraqi town of Falluja, Rachid Jassam rushed onto the street to rescue the injured.

As the teenager ran out, another plane swooped overhead and dropped more bombs, the shrapnel tearing his right leg so severely local doctors wanted to amputate it.

His father refused the amputation to spare his son from a life of disability, and opted for basic surgery instead.

“When I got injured, I didn’t lose consciousness. I witnessed the whole thing when the people came and took me to the hospital. I remember everything,” 15-year-old Jassam said through an interpreter at a Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) hospital in Amman in Jordan.

“I lost five centimetres of my bone from my right leg and I couldn’t move it anymore.”

More than 20 per cent of all patients at the MSF hospital are children just like Rachid – blown apart, severely burnt and disfigured by conflicts in Iraq, Syria, Yemen and Gaza.

Since it opened in 2006, the hospital has treated almost 4,400 patients free of charge, and remains the only hospital in the Middle East to perform advanced reconstructive surgery on victims of war.

But as conflicts rage across Middle East, hospital staff say resources have been stretched in recent years, with most patients coming from Syria and Yemen.

For Jassam, the clinic has been his lifeline. Sitting on his hospital bed in the Jordanian capital after receiving specialised surgery on his leg, he smiles broadly as he holds onto his crutches.

“Thank God, it’s God that preserved my leg.”

“YOU SEE WAR EVERY DAY”

Not all children are so lucky.

In a small pink room on the upper levels of the hospital, young girls with disfigured faces and missing limbs grow increasingly agitated as they try to solve puzzles and play board games.

“Sometimes the trauma affects their memory skills or problem-solving, and it also has psychological effects like low attention span. They can get frustrated easily and they have low self-esteem,” said occupational therapist Nour Al-Khaleeb, 24, who is part of a team of mental health specialists.

“You see war every day, you see their injuries, you see how it’s affecting their lives – and sometimes it has an effect on you too,” she said, talking loudly over the girls’ screams and chatter.

“Maybe they will remember that someone did something good for them, and this will give them hope later on in life.”

Around 60 people, mainly young men, undergo complex orthopaedic, facial and burn reconstructive surgery at the hospital each month, according to MSF. They also receive psychological care and counselling during their stay.

Mohammed, 11, said his family was fleeing the city of Homs in Syria by car when an airstrike hit, injuring him and his two brothers. He watched as his mother died in the explosion.

“A part of the bomb went into my leg and fractured my bone into pieces – it cut into my nerves and tendons,” he said through an interpreter, insisting he wasn’t scared when the bombs fell overhead.

Hobbling down the hospital corridor on crutches after a recent operation on his leg, Mohammed said he will get on with his life when he is discharged, and return to join his family in Jordan’s Zataari refugee camp, which hosts almost 80,000 Syrian refugees.

RESILIENCE

Clinical psychologist Elisa Birri, who heads the mental health team, said it was common for children in the hospital, especially boys, to put on a brave front.

But sooner or later, psychological symptoms like bedwetting, depression, anxiety, aggression and insomnia can crop up, said Birri. At the severe end of the spectrum, patients can experience flashbacks, panic attacks and disassociation, where they lose their sense of reality.

“Children show in their drawings and during free play what they have experienced, it’s like a mirror. For example, they will draw themselves playing with guns because of the war context they came from,” said Birri, adding that children will sometimes regress to an infantile state to cope with the trauma.

But having worked in Libya and Syria, the Italian psychologist added that the maturity and resilience of children living in war-torn countries were beyond their years.

“They go through really big events, but you see them smiling every day, playing every day. They never stop having motivation to go on.”

This rings true for 15-year-old Jassam. Even after being severely injured and besieged by Islamic State militants for eight months, Jassam said he can’t wait to return to Falluja once he leaves the hospital.

“I want to go back to Falluja, I miss it. I miss everyone there,” he said, smiling and nodding his head in excitement.

“I have a goat and it’s the only surviving goat and she has given birth, so there are babies waiting for me.”

(Reporting by Lin Taylor @linnytayls, Editing by Ros Russell; Please credit the Thomson Reuters Foundation, the charitable arm of Thomson Reuters that covers humanitarian issues, conflicts, global land and property rights, modern slavery and human trafficking, women’s rights, and climate change. Visit http://news.trust.org to see more stories)

Suicide attacker kills six Jordanian troops at Syria border

Injured soldier transported to nearby hospital

By Suleiman Al-Khalidi

AMMAN (Reuters) – Six Jordanian border guards were killed by a suicide bomber who drove a car at speed across the border from Syria and rammed it into a military post on Tuesday, security officials said.

The explosives-laden vehicle blew up a few hundred meters from a camp for Syrian refugees in a remote and desolate area where the borders of Iraq, Syria and Jordan meet, a Jordanian army statement said.

The southeastern desert area is close to where Islamic State militants are known to operate, according to a security source who requested anonymity. The source said the attack appeared to be a well planned military operation. No group has claimed responsibility.

The army said a number of other vehicles used in the attack at around 5.30 a.m. (2230 EDT) were destroyed and that 14 other people were wounded. The suicide bomber drove out from behind a berm and dodged gunfire to reach the military post, it added.

It was the first such assault targeting Jordan from Syria since Syria’s descent into conflict in 2011 and followed an attack on June 6 on a security office near the Jordanian capital Amman in which five people, including three Jordanian intelligence officers, were killed.

The incidents have jolted the Arab kingdom, which has been relatively unscathed by the instability that has swept the Arab world since 2011, including the expansion of Islamic State in Syria and Iraq.

In a rare move, the chief of staff of the Jordanian army General Mishal al Zibn declared the northern and northeastern border strip with Syria a closed military zone, an order that went into effect immediately.

“Any vehicle and personnel movement within these areas that move without prior coordination will be treated as enemy targets and dealt with firmly and without leniency,” the army statement said.

International relief workers said the Jordanian authorities had also suspended all humanitarian aid to the area and that this could put the lives of refugees at risk. This was not immediately by the Jordanian authorities.

IRON FIST

Jordan’s King Abdullah said the perpetrators would not go unpunished and that his security forces would deal with “an iron fist” with any group that sought to harm the country’s security or borders, a palace statement said.

Jordan is a staunch ally of the United States and is taking part in the U.S.-led campaign against Islamic State in Syria, where the jihadist group still controls large areas of territory including much of the east.

Jordan has kept tight control of its frontier with Syria since the outbreak of the war in its neighbor.

Washington condemned the deadly attack as a “cowardly terrorist act” and said it would continue “unwavering support” for the Jordanian army, a statement from the U.S. embassy said.

Since the start of the Syria conflict, Washington has spent tens of millions of dollars to help Amman set up an elaborate surveillance system known as the Border Security Programme to stem infiltration by militants from Syria and Iraq.

The Rakban crossing targeted on Tuesday is a military zone far from any inhabited area, and includes a three-km (two-mile) stretch of berms built a decade ago to combat smuggling. The border is heavily guarded by patrols and drones.

U.S. Patriot missiles are stationed in the kingdom, however, and the U.S. army has hundreds of trainers in the country.

It is the only area where Jordan still receives Syrian refugees, some 50,000 of whom are stranded in Rakban refugee camp in a de facto no-man’s land some 330 km (200 miles) northeast of Amman.

REFUGEES STRAIN KINGDOM

The population of the camp has since last year grown from several thousand to over 50,000 people as the fighting in Syria intensified, relief workers say.

Jordan has been a big beneficiary of foreign aid because of its efforts to help refugees but has drawn criticism from Western allies and aid agencies over the humanitarian situation at Rakban, diplomats say.

Earlier waves of Syrian refugees had an easier time, with some walking just a few hundred meters to cross into Jordan. Jordan sealed those border crossings in 2013.

The United Nations refugee agency said late last year Jordan should accept the new wave of refugees — their numbers have risen, aid officials say, since Russia started air strikes last September — and move them to established camps closer to Amman.

Jordan, which has already accepted more than 600,000 U.N.-registered Syrian refugees, is resisting. It says Islamic State militants may have infiltrated their ranks as most of them come from Islamic State-held areas in central and eastern Syria, and has allowed only a trickle of refugees, mostly women and children, in recent months.

(Reporting by Suleiman Al-Khalidi; Editing by Tom Perry and Timothy Heritage)

Jordan needs international help over refugee crisis, king says

LONDON (Reuters) – Jordan’s King Abdullah says his country needs long-term aid from the international community to cope with a huge influx of Syrian refugees, warning that unless it received support the “dam is going to burst”.

In an interview with the BBC aired on Tuesday, King Abdullah said the refugee crisis was overloading Jordan’s social services and threatening regional stability. Jordan has already accepted more than 600,000 U.N.-registered Syrian refugees.

“Jordanians are suffering from trying to find jobs, the pressure on infrastructure and for the government, it has hurt us when it comes to the educational system, our healthcare. Sooner or later I think the dam is going to burst,” he said.

Last Thursday, officials said the European Union would promise some $2.2 billion at an international donor conference to be held in London this week to aid Syrian refugees in Jordan, Lebanon and Iraq.

British Prime Minister David Cameron said last month he would press the EU to relax export rules for Jordan, to help spur economic growth.

“This week is going to be very important for Jordanians to see is there going to be help not only for Syrian refugees but for their own future as well,” King Abdullah told the BBC.

Part of the U.S.-led coalition that is bombing Syria, Jordan has long been praised for helping refugees and been a big beneficiary of foreign aid as a result.

However, it has drawn criticism from western allies and the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees over the situation near its border with Syria, where thousands of refugees are being kept far from any aid.

The situation has deteriorated since Russia started air strikes last September to support President Bashar al-Assad.

King Abdullah said if Jordan was not helped, the refugee crisis would worsen.

“The international community, we’ve always stood shoulder to shoulder by your side. We’re now asking for your help, you can’t say no this time,” he said.

(Reporting by Michael Holden; editing by Katharine Houreld)

ISIS Burns To Death 45 Iraqis

ISIS has burned alive 45 Iraqi citizens for a variety of alleged crimes against the terrorist’s rules.

Al-Baghdadi Local Police Chief Qasim al-Obeidi told the BBC that some of those killed were members of the Iraqi Security Forces which has been the main force fighting to stop the spread of ISIS.

The massacre comes as the State Department’s main spokeswoman, Marie Harf, says that ISIS can’t be beaten by force.

“We’re killing a lot of them, and we’re going to keep killing more of them,” she stated. “So are the Egyptians, so are the Jordanians. They’re in this fight with us. But we cannot win this war by killing them. We cannot kill our way out of this war.”

“We can work with countries around the world to help improve their governance,” she said. “We can help them build their economies so they can have job opportunities for these people.”

The ISF is working to drive ISIS out of al-Baghdadi but has been unable to dislodge the terrorists.

Jordan: “We Will Completely Wipe Out ISIS”

The King of Jordan made the boldest statement yet from a world leader when he said that his country would “completely wipe out ISIS.”

Jordan’s interior minister Hussein al-Majali said his nation’s forces would go after ISIS “wherever they are” and “eliminate them and wipe them out completely.”

The move comes after ISIS burned alive a Jordanian pilot shot down over Syria.

King Abdullah said that Jordan would fight “to the last bullet, the last plane, the last missile.”

The move by Jordan has spurred the United Arab Emirates to enter back into the airstrike coalition. The UAE had suspended their attacks after the capture of the pilot in an attempt to get ISIS to release him.

The Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi told the UAE’s official news agency “deep belief in the need for Arab collective cooperation to eliminate terrorism, through actions and words, and bolster the security, stability and moderation of the nation through the collective encountering of these terrorist gangs and their misleading ideology and brutal practices” was the reason for the resumption of air strikes.

Jordan’s King Vows To Strike ISIS

The brutal murder of a Jordanian pilot by Islamic extremist group ISIS has drawn an unusually sharp response from Jordan’s King Abdullah.

King Abdullah told security chiefs that the pilot’s death would not “be in vain” and that Jordan would strike quickly and harshly on the terrorists.

“The blood of martyr Moaz al-Kasasbeh will not be in vain and the response of Jordan and its army after what happened to our dear son will be severe,” King Abdullah reportedly said. “This evil can and should be defeated.”

The King cut short a visit to the United States after the posting of the video to return home to deal with the fallout of the murder.

Jordan immediately executed two ISIS terrorists held after a failed bombing.

The family of the slain pilot spoke with the King and with Jordan military officials and asked them to completely eliminate ISIS.

Saudi Arabia Starts Building 600 Mile Wall To Fight ISIS

The royal family of Saudi Arabia is taking pro-active steps to fight the Islamic terrorist group ISIS by building a 600-mile long wall to block the Iraq/Saudi border.

The fence will run from Jordan to Kuwait. The fencing system will five layers of barbed wire fencing, a ditch, a patrol road, underground motion sensors, 40 watchtowers, radar, day/night cameras and rapid intervention teams.

The entire system will also be connected through a fiber-optic network.

The royal family had first thought about a wall in 2006 during the U.S. invasion of Iraq but put the plan in motion after ISIS tried to sneak into the country through the border town of Arar.

The Saudi military has already sent 30,000 additional troops to the border to secure it.

ISIS top leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi has called on Sunnis within Saudi Arabia to being terrorist attacks on the royal family.

ISIS Publicly Executes 13 Teens For Watching Soccer

An activist group inside Syria has reported the terrorist group ISIS brought 13 teenage boys into the middle of a Raqqa street and slaughtered them for watching a soccer match between Iraq and Jordan.

The boys were killed because the terrorists said their watching the match “broke Islamic principles.”

“The bodies remained lying in the open and their parents were unable to withdraw them for fear of murder by terrorist organization,” the group, Syria Being Slaughtered Silently, wrote on their website.

The murders come two days after the group released a video showing them throwing two men off the top of a tower in Mosul. The video shows a terrorist saying the two men violated Islamic law.

The group which released the information about the murders had published videos showing women taken from western countries being forced into internet cafes to call their families and tell them how much they love it under ISIS’ Caliphate.

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